BOSTON - On Saturday night, Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said he was "very satisfied'' with Bobby Valentine's performance.

On Sunday, the manager of the skidding Sox disagreed.

"I'm not satisfied. I don't need to hear it from Ben or (owner) John Henry or the fans,'' Valentine said at Fenway Park, where the Red Sox-Yankees series finale was rained out.

"I've got to do better in every way.''

Valentine's blunt self-assessment came at a time his team was at a particularly low ebb. The Red Sox finished a 3-5 homestand with five straight losses, and they head to Minnesota with a 4-10 record and a spot in the AL East cellar.

"I don't accept four wins out of 14. The record is how I'm judged, and it's how I judge myself,'' Valentine said.

No makeup date for the rainout has been set. One day after his team blew a 9-0 lead in Saturday's 15-9 loss to New York, Valentine was asked if the postponement might offer a break to a team that needed one.

"I hope so, because we're not playing, (but) often, guys like to play,'' he said.

He remains confident that things will get better, for his team and for him.

"Hitters have slumps, pitchers have slumps, managers can go into slumps,'' he said.

"When you're 4-10, it's hard to say things are going perfectly. But I kind of like this team.

"We have the fewest errors in baseball, and obviously, our guys are going to pitch better.''

They had better. The bullpen's problems came to a head on Saturday, when the relievers allowed back-to-back seven-run innings.